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I hate it when writers resort to dictionary definitions to make a point.

“The New Oxford American Dictionary defines ‘authentic’ as ‘relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life.’

“So true, so true, and that’s the perspective you must adopt to become adroit in social media.”

Yeah? ‘Cause from what I can tell “authentic” actually means “pretending to care about what other people think so that they’ll mention you on Twitter.”

But when I saw this thesaurus entry for the word “human,” I had to share (my emphasis obviously):

HUMAN — they’re only human — mortal, flesh and ..read more

I’m sick of being admonished that success is predicated on spending the next 10,000 hours of our lives becoming “an expert.”

I’m sick of hearing about how I should be molding my life in the image of Michael Phelps or Albert Einstein, because the only thing that separates me from genius is identifying my strengths and working really really hard.

I’m calling bullshit.

We’re so busy trying to make ourselves into outliers that we’re forgetting about what’s important.

Penelope Trunk pushed me over the edge when she wrote that for the last two years she’s been schlepping around a Harvard Business Review article called “The ..read more

I guest-post on other blogs fairly regularly, but it was pointed out to me by rising blogging star Ash Maurya that I don’t usually share these with you!

So here’s a selection of articles I’ve published elsewhere.

Four ways to get automatically rejected by an Angel investor (VentureBeat)

Advice on pitching Angel investors who often have different criteria than the typical VC. Also see my follow-up article: Four more ways.

I’ve been pitched a lot, especially as a Capital Factory mentor, so this comes not only from my own experience but in discussing pitches with dozens of other angel investors.

Ten ways to make your writing ..read more

I love checking out personal finance books and I’m glad to see a big choice of publications for Canadian readers. There are still too many American financial authors populating the bookstore shelves.

As soon as you see terms like 401(k), Roth IRAs and tax-free municipal bonds, put down the book. It’s probably irrelevant to you.

So, what’s new? The big hit is Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s Debt-Free Forever, which is in the top 10 bestsellers at Amazon.ca. As the host of Til Debt Do Us Part, a long-running reality TV show, she’s known for her blunt way of scolding the clueless couples she tries to reform.

She writes the same way she talks — plain, direct, colloquial, often personal. And while her advice is nothing you haven’t heard before — ..read more

Nothing clarifies things quite like a hyperactive, all-knowing, all-seeing, real asshole of a devil’s advocate beating the living crap out of you.

(Cartoon by Andertoons)

Baseball players swing heavy bats before going up to the plate; acclimating to difficult working conditions makes it easier to hit the ball out of the park.

What’s the equivalent of the heavy bat for honing your skills at pitching your product and raising money for your company?

For years I’ve been a fan of Scott Berkun’s concept of Rude Q&A:

What would the meanest, nastiest, but smartest people in the world grill you on when you show your work?

A Rude Q&A is a list of questions ..read more